In bygone days, rudimentary means of communication limited people (and often only monied people) to exchange only rare, short, and therefore, usually only very important messages. As a result of the innovations in communication, the days of the carrier pigeon and the pony express are gone. Gone, too, are the days of the exchange of only rare, short messages. Yet, the importance of message exchange has not diminished, but has grown. Our businesses, society and culture have come to place a very high reliance on communication services. The extensive promulgation and use of wireless telephones, facsimile machines and worldwide networking of computers are just recent examples of the continuing growth of communication services, and our increasing dependence on such services.
To state the obvious, today's business relies heavily on communication services. In the referenced bygone days, the mom-and-pop grocery store on the corner primarily served neighborhood residents. Today, the mom-and-pop grocery store (if it still exists) keeps in touch with its suppliers through the use of cellular telephones and pagers, receives customer orders by fax, and has a web site on the Internet to boost its business. Any disruption to its communication services has a serious, negative impact on the business of the mom-and-pop grocery store. In fact, many businesses, such as financial institutions and stock and bond brokers, would simply be out-of-business if there were any disruptions to their communication services. Similarly, our educational, health and social institutions would suffer in many ways as a result of any disruption to their communication services. Further, the inability to quickly get in touch with a family member or friend in case of emergency or for any other reason is simply unacceptable to many people.
Disruptions to communication services are relatively rare, but they do occur on all scales. As noted, when such disruptions occur, they have a serious negative impact on the businesses and other institutions that rely on such services. Examples of grand scale communication disruptions include natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, ice storms, earthquakes and forest fires, and include man-made disasters such as wars, police actions, riots, and civil unrest. Examples of smaller scale disasters include localized power outages, brown outs, and other such events. Of course, communication services to a particular home, business, church or school may be disrupted by an event such as a fire, power outage, gas leak, or flooding that has plagued that particular location. Everybody within the disaster area (whether it be on a grand or small scale) will suffer some communication service disruption as a result of the disaster. Particularly hardhit by a disruption to communication services will be the aforementioned financial institutions such as banks and stock brokers that literally rely on the exchange of information as their business. Also hardhit by a communication disruption will be sales and service organizations that rely on the telephone, fax machine or networked computer for sales and service calls. In particular, a business that relies on calls to an "800" or "900" number will especially suffer. Further, during a communication service disruption, service organizations such as local police, fire and medical facilities ("911 services") and emergency relief organizations such as the American Red Cross will be hampered and the people they serve will suffer delays and the consequences of such delays.
In addition, human nature and human foibles being what they are, communication services may be disrupted as a result of actions or the lack of actions on the part of the resources that interact with the communication services. Let's take the example of the mom-and-pop grocery store again, but modify it to expand the example to a mom-and-pop grocery store chain with each store in the chain taking delivery orders over the telephone. If the communication services to the grocery stores are set up such that each store has its own directory number for delivery orders, then each store must staff the telephone in the store associated with the directory number. If one of the stores has a problem with staffing the telephone, then the communication service to that store is effectively disrupted. Staffing problems are myriad and include staff scheduling problems, vacation or holiday periods, staff absence because of illness or injury, and employment walk-outs or strikes. Generally stated, such staffing problems fall within the purview of resource management and load balancing with respect to the communication duties that must be performed to maintain the operations of the business, social or educational institution.
To insure that the proverbial and literal lines of communication remain open, many businesses and other social and educational institutions subscribe to communication redirection services. There are several different types of communication redirection services. The simplest of these services is commonly known as "call forwarding". To explain call forwarding, we use a household example. A family may have one telephone number that is assigned to the telephone line(s) that connect the telephones in the family home to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). This telephone number is conventionally referred to as a "directory number". If the family subscribes to call forwarding service for that directory number, the family may specify that all calls directed to that directory number (i.e., calls that are "dialed" to the directory number as the called party number) during a particular period of time be "forwarded" to a different directory number. As those of ordinary skill in the art are aware, these forwarded calls are not actually transferred from the family's telephone to the telephone associated with the different directory number. Rather, the central office of the PSTN serving the family's telephone will have received the call, noted that all calls directed to the family's directory number are to be sent elsewhere, and redirected all such calls to the telephone associated with the different directory number. Thus, a family going on vacation to the beach, may forward for the period of the vacation all the calls directed to the family's directory number to the telephone number of the beachhouse where the family is staying. In this way, the family insures that its communication service is not disrupted by the vacation.
Call forwarding services are used extensively by small businesses and people who work at home. Such call forwarding services are particularly useful in business emergency situations, where the sole proprietor must be mobile.
Generally, call forwarding services are limited to POTS (plain old telephone service) lines and cannot be applied to trunks or other types of facilities access to the subscriber's location. As an example, we will refer to a brokerage firm that has multiple offices. If one of the offices has a problem with staffing a particular telephone number (such as the "new order" number) over a particular period of time, then call forwarding services could be used to forward the calls from the office with the problem to a different office. By forwarding the calls, the brokerage firm will continue to receive new orders and will avoid losing the business. However, if more than one office had a staffing problem, call forwarding would not suffice to distribute the load of extra calls. As a result, other redirection services have been developed to handle the more complicated problems of businesses that may face communication service disruption as a result of interruption in the communication service itself or as a result of problems in handling the communications at the business.
One redirection service that has been developed to handle the complicated communication requirements of a business in an emergency is the CRISISLINK service offered by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., Atlanta, Ga. The CRISISLINK service is a network based service which allows a subscriber to redirect all calls or a selectable percentage of calls during an emergency or during specified times from directory numbers to one or more alternate ("backup") numbers previously selected by the subscriber. The subscriber may choose to have all calls to the directory number or numbers redirected to a particular backup number, or have a selectable percentage of the calls spread amongst two or three backup numbers. In other words, a subscriber may have 100% of the calls redirected to backup number #1. For example, this option may be desirable to the brokerage firm when one of the offices is having a problem with staffing a particular number or group of numbers. Alternatively, the subscriber may have the calls spread amongst other backup numbers. An example of the spread of calls amongst three backup numbers follows below:
20% of the calls redirected to backup #1 PA1 30% of the calls redirected to backup #2 PA1 50% of the calls redirected to backup #3 PA1 10% of the calls receive a preselected announcement PA1 20% of the calls redirected to backup #1 PA1 30% of the calls redirected to backup #2 PA1 40% of the calls redirected to backup #3 PA1 10% of the calls are directed to the directory number PA1 10% of the calls receive a preselected announcement PA1 20% of the calls redirected to backup #1 PA1 30% of the calls redirected to backup #2 PA1 30% of the calls redirected to backup #3
For example, if the problem office has a particularly busy day, then it may make sense to distribute the calls from the problem office amongst three different offices. In this way, none of the other offices is particularly overwhelmed by the added number of calls. The ability to distribute the calls amongst one or more backup numbers provides the CRISISLINK subscriber with greater flexibility in handling emergencies or other events that may cause a disruption to communication services at the location associated with the directory number.
The CRISISLINK service also provides its subscribers with the option of having all calls receive a preselected announcement instead of being redirected, or of having a selectable percentage of the calls receive a preselected announcement with the remaining percentage of calls being redirected to one or more backup numbers. For example, the subscriber may have calls spread amongst a preselected announcement and three backup numbers as follows:
Referring again to the brokerage firm, the firm may take advantage of the announcement feature of the CRISISLINK service to provide 10% of the calls to the problem office with an announcement. An announcement may be particularly advantageous in providing callers with pertinent information as a stop gap measure or as a sales tool at least until a backup number is ready to handle this percentage of calls. The ability to provide a percentage of calls with an announcement provides the CRISISLINK subscriber with greater flexibility in handling emergencies or other events that may cause a disruption to communication services at the location associated with the directory number.
Further, the CRISISLINK service allows the subscriber to choose to redirect or provide an announcement to only a percentage of the calls that are directed to the directory number while the remaining percentage are directed as dialed to the directory number. For example, the subscriber may have the calls spread amongst the directory number, a preselected announcement and three backup numbers as follows:
Referring again to the brokerage firm, the problem office may actually be able to handle a reduced number of calls. Thus, the brokerage firm may choose to leave 10% of the calls with the problem office, provide 10% of the calls with an announcement, and then distribute the remaining calls to three other offices.
In addition, the CRISISLINK service allows the subscriber to change the percentage of call redirection as the situation develops. For example, the staffing at the problem brokerage office may be a short term problem. As the staffing problem improves, the brokerage firm may dynamically change the percentage of call redirection. For example, the percentage of calls that are left to be directed to the directory number may gradually be increased until the problem office no longer is a problem. In this manner, the brokerage firm may gradually restore the original telephone plan so as to better protect its business at that office. A subscriber of CRISISLINK service has greater flexibility in handling emergencies or other events that may cause a disruption to communication services at the location associated with the directory number because of the following features provided by the service: the ability to leave a selectable percentage of calls with the dialed directory number; the ability to provide an announcement to a selectable percentage of the calls; and the ability to distribute the calls amongst one or more locations.
The CRISISLINK service advantageously operates in a fashion transparent to customers within the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), an intelligent switched telephone network used by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. Also, as a network based service, the CRISISLINK service advantageously operates with all types of telephone and communications service including multiline hunt groups, direct-inward-dial (DID) lines, ESSX service, the ISDN Primary Rate Interface, as well as with POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), and any type of facilities access. The CRISISLINK service is independent of facilities access because it intercepts the communication as it enters the network for local routing.
As noted above in connection with the brokerage firm example, the situation giving rise to the disruption in communication services (emergency or resource management) may change, and hopefully improve, as time passes. The hurricane may miss the area of the subscriber's business, or the staffing problem may be solved by resolution of a strike or for some other reason. The change or improvement in the situation may necessitate a change in the communication services to that business, social, health or educational institution, or a return to the original communication service provided. In other words, the change or improvement may point to a cancellation or at least partial cancellation of communication redirection services.
In addition, the situation at the location of the redirected directory number or numbers may be such that communication with people or devices at the location may be highly desirable. For example, it would be very useful to the brokerage firm to keep in touch with the few people who are actually staffing the problem office so as to monitor the staffing requirements and other issues that may arise as a result of the problems associated with that office. Further, emergency situations may be better handled if the communications link with the problem location is maintained. For example, if a fire alarm results in the evacuation or partial evacuation of the problem brokerage office, then it would be useful to the brokerage firm to be able to keep in touch with the problem office. In this way, the brokerage firm would have information quickly as to the magnitude of the problem at the problem office. The fire may just be a small fire that is quickly brought under control (such as a fire in a wastebasket), or the fire may be a major conflagration that threatens the entire neighborhood. The response of the brokerage firm with respect to the cancellation or partial cancellation of redirection services would be different based upon the information that may be gained from the vital communications link with the problem office.
How is the person in charge of the communication services to know when the communication redirection service should be cancelled or at least changed? When should communication services be "un-redirected" or at least partially "un-redirected"?
Under present communication redirection services similar in nature to those provided by regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) and 800 service providers, there is no way for the person in charge of communication services to know when communication redirection services should be cancelled or changed. The person in charge cannot simply place a call to the redirected directory number to check out the normal undirected service. Any such communication directed to the directory number is redirected to another number(s), as may be specified by the subscriber in accordance with the redirection service. The subscriber cannot get through to the telephone or other piece of equipment associated with the dialed directory number. With such redirection services, the vital communications link to the problem office is severed. Thus, there is no way to know or to judge when to "un-redirect" redirection services.
Pursuant to present communication redirection services, the person in charge of communications is left with a digital decision: leave the redirection service "on" or turn the redirection service "off". If the redirection service is prematurely cancelled, then the business, social, health or educational institution faces the problems associated with the emergency or resource management problems that gave rise to implementation of the redirection service. With respect to a business, business opportunities may be lost, customers discouraged, sales missed, service calls ignored, etc. With respect to resource management problems, premature cancellation of communication redirection services may simply exacerbate the problems. For example, if calls are "un-redirected" to the problem office, then the problem office must be ready to accept such calls and must be staffed with its complement of sales associates. If the chronic understaffing of the problem office led to the communications disruption, then the "un-redirection" of the calls may only further depress sales associate morale, disappoint (or even offend) customers who cannot reach the problem office, and overburden management. On the other hand, if the redirection service is left on too long, a parallel set of problems will come about that are associated with the overlong use of the redirected directory numbers and associated personnel, and with the underuse of the directory numbers and associated personnel.
The person in charge of communication services may be provided with clues to help with the decision to cancel redirection services. For example, with respect to call forwarding services, when the family returns home from vacation, this return is a pretty big clue that the implemented call forwarding service should be cancelled. Grandma now can reach the family at home, and not at the beach. But what of the more complicated examples of communication service disruptions such as the emergencies that may arise as a result of natural disasters or resource management problems? Certainly, clues will be available. The weather report may indicate that the hurricane missed the area of the subscriber's business, or the news may provide information that a labor strike has been settled. However, such clues are meager and serve as an insufficient basis for important communication service decisions. In addition, such clues may be too slow or altogether too late in coming.
Pursuant to present redirection services, including call forwarding, there is no way to put a test call through to the directory number. All the calls to the directory number are redirected. Test call capability in connection with redirection services would be advantageous for a number of reasons. In the case of communication disruptions that result from emergency situations such as weather disasters, it would be helpful to know whether the telephone and other communication services have been restored within the area that was struck by the emergency. In emergency situations, the restoral of telephone service to an area serves as an indicator of at least two things. First, such restoral generally indicates that the situation has normalized to the extent that rescue crews and others such as homeowners and small business proprietors can return to the area. Second, such restoral indicates that telephones and other communication services are available as tools to be used in recovery from the emergency and as tools in the resumption of business and life after the emergency.
In the case of resource management issues, it would be helpful to know whether communication services continue to be disrupted and the extent of the disruption. Referring again to the brokerage firm example, the determination of the percentage of calls (if any) to be handled by the problem store could be made on the basis of the number of test calls that are handled properly by the staff at the problem office. For example, if the staff picked up one of every ten test calls, then a distribution of 10% of the calls to the problem office may constitute an acceptable risk to the chain.
Further with respect to the issue of the extent of the disruption to communication services, it would be helpful in certain situations to know the status of any particular directory number or numbers of a subscriber without disrupting the communication redirection service applied to that directory number or any other directory numbers of the subscriber. For example, if the brokerage firm applied a redirection service with respect to all the directory numbers associated with the problem office (new orders, personal numbers, information numbers, etc.) it would be helpful to the chain to find out if the manager of the problem office is answering his/her directory number without "un-redirecting" all of the numbers associated with the problem office. If the manager's telephone is being answered, the brokerage firm may "un-redirect" that directory number so that the brokerage firm and manager could work on the staffing problem together. If the manager's telephone goes unanswered, the brokerage firm may continue the redirection service so as to better serve its business interests.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for the capability of checking the status of communication services with respect to a directory number or numbers to which redirection services have been applied. Further, there is a need in the art for the capability of checking such status with respect to a particular directory number without disrupting the redirection services to that number or to other directory numbers. In addition, there is a need for the capability of checking such status that is relatively inexpensive, that does not require on-premises equipment, that is easy to use, and that is easy to maintain and service.